One Whole Clove

Pouding au Chomeur

[Pudding of the Unemployed]

 

Between 1929 and 1939, the era known as the Great Depression, the average Quebec household income dropped by 44%.  Unemployment left a good deal of the population destitute, forlorn and above all hungry.

 

It became a burden to prepare a decent supper and dessert was but a fleeting reverie.  The extravagant confections of former decades were understandably harder to come by.  Most families were now faced with the challenge of finding inventive ways to pull together a few bits and scraps to satiate an appetite and on occasion the sweet tooth.  Poor man's pudding, the pudding of the unemployed or, in French, pouding au chomeur was one of these desserts.  The simple cake originates back to the settlers of Acadia in Eastern Canada and of New France (Quebec).  The moist sponge becomes tagged as grand-pere (grandfather) when it is paired with the delicious glaze of maple syrup.

 

Pouding au Chomeur

(From Ricardo and Friends)

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes 

Cooking time: 50 minutes 

Yield: 9

 

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups maple syrup

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1/2 cup 35% cream

1 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Directions

With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

In a saucepan, bring the maple and corn syrups to a boil. Simmer until a candy thermometer reads 108°C (226°F), about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cream and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a 20-cm (8-inch) Pyrex baking dish. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Add the egg and beat until smooth. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Using an ice cream scoop, drop about 9 balls of dough, about 45 ml (3 tablespoons) each, into the syrup mixture. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a ball comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Note : A more traditional approach is to place the dough in the baking dish and pour the partially cooled syrup mixture over it before baking. Note that the cake will be more thoroughly soaked if you use this method.

 

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Chausson aux Cerises

For the handful of times I have been in a Macdonald's restaurant, I have found each pained encounter to be noisy, phosphorescent and gastronomically unmemorable.  I do, however, recognize the fried chausson aux cerises (cherry pie) days of my youth with both enthusiasm and trepidation, when pies were deep fried and served hot in their cardboard container.  I do not recollect the greasy rectangle of cooked dough as much as the cautionary caption which read like a red alert across the package or the fear further emphasized by my mother's anxious tone, "The filling may burn you severely so be careful."  To this day she continues to have a way with words.  With nervous activity I slowly lifted the sweet pastry to my mouth and nibbled one corner until the point of no return when I would reach a bit of scorching filling.   In those days there were no air vents so heat was trapped beneath the fatty crust.  The confection was satisfyingly sweet, greasing each finger appropriately.

I could not compare the experience to bakery chausson aux pommes or the home baked goods my mother would produce, for these treats were cooled to room temperature before being devoured.  Macdonald's or Macdo as it is referred to here in Quebec does not offer hot cherry pie any longer however, baked chausson aux pommes continues to be one of a few menu desserts.  Please stay tuned for OWC's recipe of Chausson aux cerises.

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